Hawn Park court project in Sherman includes new restroom, parking

Sherman's plan for two lighted futsal courts at Hawn Park includes a new restroom and more parking, according to the city's Parks and Recreation Department. On its projects page, the department lists the restroom with its mini-pitch soccer and parking improvements at the east-side park.

In its Summer 2025 publication, the department reported that the Sherman City Council had approved hiring CEI, Inc. to design the courts. The same publication listed the restroom and parking as part of that project. Records reviewed for this report did not show a separate council vote to buy and install restrooms.

The publication expected design work to continue through late 2025 and the project to finish in summer 2026. Those dates were estimates. The records do not show whether construction is complete.

Hawn covers 20 acres, according to the city's park listing, and it already has restrooms. The park also has a walking trail, a playground, a pavilion, a skate park and a spray ground.

The city has built up the park in stages. The listing dates the spray ground to 2004, and Sherman's fiscal 2005 financial report records a restroom added near it. On Nov. 19, 2007, council members approved Resolution 5122 without a dissenting vote, according to city records. The resolution authorized playground equipment and skate obstacles for the park through the BuyBoard purchasing cooperative. The skate park was renovated in 2018. Sherman's fiscal 2024 budget set aside a combined $2 million to replace the large playground, the pavilion and the splash pad.

The city's long-range plans include more restroom work. Sherman's capital improvement plan for fiscal 2025 through 2029 proposed replacing Hawn's restroom in fiscal 2027. That entry was a planning figure, and the records do not connect it to the restroom in the court project. The same plan proposed a restroom with expanded parking at Binkley Park and a replacement restroom at Herman Baker Park.

The city also has more residents than it did at the start of the decade. Census Bureau estimates put Sherman's July 2025 population about 20 percent above its April 2020 base. Those figures do not measure park attendance.

In nearby Denison, a March 3, 2025, staff report recommended moving money from a planned multi-surface court at Munson Park to more restrooms. Staff said the park's two single-stall restrooms were in an inconvenient spot in its far northwest section. The Parks and Recreation Commission supported the change.

In January 2025, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission announced a record round of state grants to support improvements at 50 community parks. Each award required a local match. Each also required the land to stay in public park use permanently.

The city already maintains the restrooms at Hawn. Sherman's bid specifications for restroom maintenance list the park among sites that must be cleaned year-round and locked every night. The specifications also require emergency service outside normal working hours.